October 9, 2015 (Toronto, Ontario)—Over the past decade, Ontario’s Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) has made major changes to both its case management and vocational rehabilitation services. Its aim was to improve services to injured workers and employers and to improve outcomes for workers disabled by a work-related injury or illness. According to the WSIB, these reforms have been successful, having prevented more than two million lost work days annually in Ontario.
Judy Geary, who as a member of the WSIB executive team led the design and implementation of these… Read more
September 21, 2015 (Toronto, Ontario)—Canadians who have difficulty working because of their arthritis report fewer job disruptions when they use workplace supports. They also report fewer problems with work tasks like concentrating or keeping up with the pace of work, and are less likely to change their work hours when using those supports.
That’s according to a study by the Institute for Work & Health (IWH), which examines the availability and use of common workplace benefits and accommodations among workers with arthritis. The study finds that many people with… Read more
September 3, 2015 (Toronto, Ont.)—Workers at unionized construction workplaces in Ontario are more likely than their non-unionized counterparts to file job-related injury claims, but less likely to file injury claims that result in time off work.
That’s one of the findings of a new, groundbreaking study that set out to probe whether unionized construction companies experience fewer workplace injuries than non-unionized ones. The study by the Institute for Work & Health (IWH) was funded by the Ontario Construction Secretariat (OCS), a tripartite organization of government… Read more
February 26, 2015 (Toronto, Ontario)—A new online office ergonomics training program was jointly launched today by the Institute for Work & Health (IWH) and the Public Services Health & Safety Association (PSHSA). Evidence-based and standard-compliant, eOfficeErgo: Ergonomics e-Learning for Office Workers is being made available as organizations across the country prepare to mark International Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) Awareness Day, which takes place annually on the last day of February.
With the growth in office environments and the large… Read more
December 18, 2014 (Toronto, Ontario)—Work-related injury rates in Ontario fell by 30 per cent from 2004 to 2011—in sharp contrast to non-work injury rates, which did not change.
According to a study by the Institute for Work & Health (IWH), the overall decline in total injuries during this eight-year period can be almost entirely attributed to a decline in occupational injuries.
If injuries due to leisure, recreation or other non-work activities had fallen at the same rate as work-related injuries, there would have been 200,000 fewer injuries in the province in 2011,… Read more
November 7, 2014 (Toronto, Ontario)— Moving research into practice through concrete and practical solutions, recommendations and interventions is essential to both occupational health and safety researchers and policy-makers if they hope to achieve their shared vision of preventing work-related injuries, disease and death. Just how to do that effectively remains an ongoing challenge within the health and safety system.
For 20 years, Dr. Paul Schulte, director of the Education and Information Division at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), has… Read more
October 9, 2014 (Toronto, Ontario)―Although women make up nearly half of the labour force, much of what we know about the effect of work on health is based on research involving men or male-dominated workplaces. A new five-year research program in gender, work and health at the Institute for Work & Health (IWH) aims to help redress this imbalance.
IWH Scientist Dr. Peter Smith was awarded one of nine research chairs in gender, work and health funded by the Institute of Gender and Health at the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. His research will focus on issues such… Read more
February 28, 2014 (Toronto, Ont.)—In the wake of an award for best article in 2013 from the journal Applied Ergonomics, the Institute for Work & Health (IWH) is suggesting that organizations add participatory ergonomics to their roster of musculoskeletal disorder prevention efforts. The recommendation comes today as workplaces around the world mark International Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) Awareness Day, held annually on the last day of February.
Participatory ergonomics (PE) involves workers, supervisors and other workplace parties working together to… Read more
January 28, 2014 (Toronto, Ontario)—Health and safety training for office workers is substantially more effective when follow-up sessions help them confidently apply their newly learned skills, and teach supervisors how to support them in doing so.
This is the finding of an Institute for Work & Health (IWH) study that assessed in-person versus online training to address hazards associated with computer work, as well as the effect of “enhanced” training on both methods of delivery.
Despite the importance of training as a tool to change worker health and safety… Read more
November 12, 2013 (Toronto, Ontario)— Based on the work of an innovative research collaboration between the University of British Columbia (UBC) and WorkSafeBC, British Columbia’s workers’ compensation board has changed its practices around the prevention, compensation and treatment of mesothelioma, asbestosis and other asbestos-related diseases—including the appointment of staff dedicated to helping workers with these conditions. This is just one example of many to be highlighted at this year’s Alf Nachemson Memorial Lecture, which is focusing on the work of B.C.’s… Read more
Media contacts
Uyen Vu
Communications Manager
Institute for Work & Health
613-725-0106
613-979-7742 (cell)
uvu@iwh.on.ca
Andrea Larney
Communications Associate
Institute for Work & Health
289-387-0153 (cell)
416-927-2027 ext. 2156 (office)
alarney@iwh.on.ca